System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

Vlazm · 2025-11-17 16:15:58

Two days ago (I think?) I ran an system update (through `pacman -Syu`) which I believe changed or somehow affected my system font configuration. Among few other things that were installed then I remember there was a kernel update from 6.17.7 to 6.17.8

I... don't know why this have happened. I have no idea what update could even theoretically do this and for what purpose.
It looks like my new font is "NotoSansMono-Regular". Font change is really apparent when opening kitty terminal and qutebrowser.

I didn't pay much attention to font config as the default font was good for me, thus I have no idea what font I had previously...

I was able to find an ancient screenshot where the old font is used. I'll upload this screenshot with the one I made just now for comparison. (I also found another one with old font! I'll be appending it to the screenshot urls)

Its not the end of the world, I'll try to upload photos of my font to reverse-font-searcher websites, and setting new system-wide configuration shouldn't be much trouble.

Really what I want is to know how and why this had happend.
I thank everyone in advance

*screenshots*

"Before"

"Another before"

"After"

Last edited by Vlazm (2025-11-17 20:36:22)

seth · 2025-11-17 16:23:10

fc-match -s monospace

Vlazm · 2025-11-17 16:45:22

Output of "fc-match -s monospace" command:

NotoSans-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans" "Regular"
FreeSans.otf: "FreeSans" "Regular"
FreeSansBold.otf: "FreeSans" "Bold"
CaskaydiaCoveNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font" "Regular"
ProggyCleanCENerdFont-Regular.ttf: "ProggyClean CE Nerd Font" "Regular"
ProggyCleanNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "ProggyClean Nerd Font" "Regular"
FreeMono.otf: "FreeMono" "Regular"
FreeSerif.otf: "FreeSerif" "Regular"
IosevkaNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "Iosevka Nerd Font" "Regular"
AdwaitaMono-Regular.ttf: "Adwaita Mono" "Regular"
FiraCodeNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "FiraCode Nerd Font" "Regular"
ProFontIIxNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "ProFont IIx Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoNastaliqUrdu-Regular.ttf: "Noto Nastaliq Urdu" "Regular"
NotoSansAdlamUnjoined-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Adlam Unjoined" "Regular"
HackNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "Hack Nerd Font" "Regular"
OverpassNerdFont-Regular.otf: "Overpass Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansDuployan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Duployan" "Regular"
NotoSansMongolian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mongolian" "Regular"
NotoSansWarangCiti-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Warang Citi" "Regular"
NotoSansHebrew-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Hebrew" "Regular"
3270NerdFont-Condensed.ttf: "3270 Nerd Font" "Condensed"
NotoSansBengali-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Bengali" "Regular"
NotoSansMath-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Math" "Regular"
NotoSansSinhala-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sinhala" "Regular"
LilexNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "Lilex Nerd Font" "Regular"
DejaVuSansMNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "DejaVuSansM Nerd Font" "Regular"
JetBrainsMonoNLNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSerifTangut-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Tangut" "Regular"
NotoKufiArabic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Kufi Arabic" "Regular"
NotoSansMyanmar-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Myanmar" "Regular"
NotoSansGujarati-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Gujarati" "Regular"
NotoSansMalayalam-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Malayalam" "Regular"
NotoSerifTibetan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Tibetan" "Regular"
NotoSansEthiopic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Ethiopic" "Regular"
NotoSansHanifiRohingya-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Hanifi Rohingya" "Regular"
NotoSansLisu-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Lisu" "Regular"
NotoSansSoraSompeng-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sora Sompeng" "Regular"
SauceCodeProNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "SauceCodePro Nerd Font" "Regular"
HasklugNerdFont-Regular.otf: "Hasklug Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "NotoSans Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansMono-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mono" "Regular"
GoMonoNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "GoMono Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansSymbols2-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Symbols 2" "Regular"
NotoSansNewa-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Newa" "Regular"
NotoSerifAhom-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Ahom" "Regular"
NotoSerifBalinese-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Balinese" "Regular"
NotoSansBalinese-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Balinese" "Regular"
NotoSansDevanagari-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Devanagari" "Regular"
NotoSansKaithi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Kaithi" "Regular"
NotoSansKannada-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Kannada" "Regular"
NotoSansLepcha-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Lepcha" "Regular"
NotoSansOriya-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Oriya" "Regular"
NotoSansSharada-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sharada" "Regular"
NotoSansTifinagh-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tifinagh" "Regular"
NotoSansZanabazarSquare-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Zanabazar Square" "Regular"
NotoSansCaucasianAlbanian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Caucasian Albanian" "Regular"
NotoSansCham-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Cham" "Regular"
NotoSansGeorgian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Georgian" "Regular"
NotoSansGrantha-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Grantha" "Regular"
NotoSansJavanese-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Javanese" "Regular"
NotoSansKhojki-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Khojki" "Regular"
NotoSansLimbu-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Limbu" "Regular"
NotoSansManichaean-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Manichaean" "Regular"
NotoSansOldHungarian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old Hungarian" "Regular"
NotoSansSiddham-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Siddham" "Regular"
NotoSansSignWriting-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans SignWriting" "Regular"
NotoSansSundanese-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sundanese" "Regular"
NotoSansTakri-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Takri" "Regular"
NotoSansTelugu-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Telugu" "Regular"
NotoSerifKhojki-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Khojki" "Regular"
BlexMonoNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "BlexMono Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansBatak-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Batak" "Regular"
NotoSansBrahmi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Brahmi" "Regular"
NotoSansCanadianAboriginal-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Canadian Aboriginal" "Regular"
NotoSansCoptic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Coptic" "Regular"
NotoSansElbasan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Elbasan" "Regular"
NotoSansGlagolitic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Glagolitic" "Regular"
NotoSansGurmukhi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Gurmukhi" "Regular"
NotoSansInscriptionalPahlavi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Inscriptional Pahlavi" "Regular"
NotoSansInscriptionalParthian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Inscriptional Parthian" "Regular"
NotoSansKharoshthi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Kharoshthi" "Regular"
NotoSansKhmer-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Khmer" "Regular"
NotoSansKhudawadi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Khudawadi" "Regular"
NotoSansMarchen-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Marchen" "Regular"
NotoSansModi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Modi" "Regular"
NotoSansNKo-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans NKo" "Regular"
NotoSansNewTaiLue-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans New Tai Lue" "Regular"
NotoSansOldItalic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old Italic" "Regular"
NotoSansOldTurkic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old Turkic" "Regular"
NotoSansPhagsPa-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans PhagsPa" "Regular"
NotoSansSylotiNagri-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Syloti Nagri" "Regular"
NotoSansTaiViet-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tai Viet" "Regular"
NotoMusic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Music" "Regular"
NotoSansAvestan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Avestan" "Regular"
NotoSansChakma-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Chakma" "Regular"
NotoSansLao-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Lao" "Regular"
NotoSansMahajani-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mahajani" "Regular"
NotoSansMandaic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mandaic" "Regular"
NotoSansMendeKikakui-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mende Kikakui" "Regular"
NotoSansMiao-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Miao" "Regular"
NotoSansOlChiki-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Ol Chiki" "Regular"
NotoSansOldSogdian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old Sogdian" "Regular"
NotoSansPsalterPahlavi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Psalter Pahlavi" "Regular"
NotoSansSymbols-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Symbols" "Regular"
NotoSansTirhuta-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tirhuta" "Regular"
NotoTraditionalNushu-Regular.ttf: "Noto Traditional Nushu" "Regular"
NotoSansBamum-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Bamum" "Regular"
NotoSansBassaVah-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Bassa Vah" "Regular"
NotoSansBhaiksuki-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Bhaiksuki" "Regular"
NotoSansCarian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Carian" "Regular"
NotoSansCypriot-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Cypriot" "Regular"
NotoSansEgyptianHieroglyphs-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs" "Regular"
NotoSansImperialAramaic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Imperial Aramaic" "Regular"
NotoSansIndicSiyaqNumbers-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Indic Siyaq Numbers" "Regular"
NotoSansLinearA-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Linear A" "Regular"
NotoSansLinearB-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Linear B" "Regular"
NotoSansLycian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Lycian" "Regular"
NotoSansLydian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Lydian" "Regular"
NotoSansMeeteiMayek-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Meetei Mayek" "Regular"
NotoSansMeroitic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Meroitic" "Regular"
NotoSansMultani-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Multani" "Regular"
NotoSansOsage-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Osage" "Regular"
NotoSansPauCinHau-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Pau Cin Hau" "Regular"
NotoSansRejang-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Rejang" "Regular"
NotoSansRunic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Runic" "Regular"
NotoSansSaurashtra-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Saurashtra" "Regular"
NotoSansSogdian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sogdian" "Regular"
NotoSansTagalog-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tagalog" "Regular"
NotoSansTaiTham-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tai Tham" "Regular"
NotoSansYi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Yi" "Regular"
NotoSerifToto-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Toto" "Regular"
NotoSansAnatolianHieroglyphs-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Anatolian Hieroglyphs" "Regular"
NotoSansBuhid-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Buhid" "Regular"
NotoSansCherokee-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Cherokee" "Regular"
NotoSansCuneiform-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Cuneiform" "Regular"
NotoSansDeseret-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Deseret" "Regular"
NotoSansHatran-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Hatran" "Regular"
NotoSansMro-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Mro" "Regular"
NotoSansNabataean-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Nabataean" "Regular"
NotoSansOldNorthArabian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old North Arabian" "Regular"
NotoSansOldPermic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old Permic" "Regular"
NotoSansOldSouthArabian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Old South Arabian" "Regular"
NotoSansPahawhHmong-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Pahawh Hmong" "Regular"
NotoSansPalmyrene-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Palmyrene" "Regular"
NotoSansSamaritan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Samaritan" "Regular"
NotoSansShavian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Shavian" "Regular"
NotoSansSoyombo-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Soyombo" "Regular"
NotoSansTagbanwa-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tagbanwa" "Regular"
NotoSansTamilSupplement-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tamil Supplement" "Regular"
NotoSansWancho-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Wancho" "Regular"
NotoSerifDivesAkuru-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Dives Akuru" "Regular"
FantasqueSansMNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "FantasqueSansM Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansTangsa-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Tangsa" "Regular"
NotoSansCyproMinoan-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Cypro Minoan" "Regular"
GeistMonoNerdFont-Regular.otf: "GeistMono Nerd Font" "Regular"
D2CodingLigatureNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "D2CodingLigature Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSerifDogra-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Dogra" "Regular"
M+1CodeNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "M+1Code Nerd Font" "Regular"
M+1NerdFont-Regular.ttf: "M+1 Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSerifOttomanSiyaq-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Ottoman Siyaq" "Regular"
NotoSansMasaramGondi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Masaram Gondi" "Regular"
NotoSerifVithkuqi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Vithkuqi" "Regular"
NotoSansChorasmian-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Chorasmian" "Regular"
NotoSansGunjalaGondi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Gunjala Gondi" "Regular"
NotoSerifOldUyghur-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Old Uyghur" "Regular"
NotoSansNandinagari-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Nandinagari" "Regular"
NotoZnamennyMusicalNotation-Regular.ttf: "Noto Znamenny Musical Notation" "Regular"
OverpassMNerdFont-Regular.otf: "OverpassM Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoSansElymaic-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Elymaic" "Regular"
NotoSansMedefaidrin-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Medefaidrin" "Regular"
NotoSansTest-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Test" "Regular"
NotoSansNagMundari-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Nag Mundari" "Regular"
NotoSerifMakasar-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Makasar" "Regular"
NotoSerifNPHmong-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif NP Hmong" "Regular"
NotoSerifYezidi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Yezidi" "Regular"
BigBlueTermPlusNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "BigBlueTermPlus Nerd Font" "Regular"
ZedMonoNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "ZedMono Nerd Font" "Regular"
NotoFangsongKSSRotated-Regular.ttf: "Noto Fangsong KSS Rotated" "Regular"
NotoSansKawi-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Kawi" "Regular"
NotoSansSunuwar-Regular.ttf: "Noto Sans Sunuwar" "Regular"
NotoSerifHentaigana-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Hentaigana" "Regular"
NotoSerifTodhri-Regular.ttf: "Noto Serif Todhri" "Regular"
UbuntuNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "Ubuntu Nerd Font" "Regular"
TerminessNerdFont-Regular.ttf: "Terminess Nerd Font" "Regular"
AdwaitaSans-Regular.ttf: "Adwaita Sans" "Regular"

There appears to be lots of Noto fonts that I'm not sure I have installed explicitly, don't know what this could mean though. I'm guessing FreeMono was my old font gonna check it soon

seth · 2025-11-17 16:56:07

You've probably been using FreeMono.otf: "FreeMono" "Regular"
=> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Font_c … ault_fonts

Vlazm · 2025-11-17 17:38:07

Hey, it was indeed "FreeMono"! Got it into my ~./fontconfig/fonts.conf and everything's back to normal.

Thanks for help)

Although I still don't know why it changed in the first place...
When editing my fonts.conf, there was no ~/.config/fontconfig directory. Maybe some software pulled Noto fonts, and they somehow were a closer alphabetical match (though this doesn't make any sense since "N" comes way after "F")

Anyways, I still look for some kind of explanation, but at the end of the day I don't care as much, so if in the next 24 hours there will be no updates, I'll mark this one as solved

Edit: also I confirmed that noto-fonts package was installed approximately at the same time as I got my font-breaking update

Last edited by Vlazm (2025-11-17 18:57:22)

seth · 2025-11-17 20:09:20

Anyways, I still look for some kind of explanation, but at the end of the day I don't care as much

/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.default/46-noto-mono.conf
/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.default/66-noto-mono.conf
If you want to know why fonts come with this kind of hubris - I've no idea, sorry.

Maybe some software pulled Noto fonts

pacman -Qi noto-fonts

plasma, deepin & cosmic seem to hard-depend on them.

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Vlazm · 2025-11-17 20:35:04

I did run the "pacman -Qi noto-fonts" to get the install and build dates. It is a dependency of firefox, some qt stuff and inkscape. All of this stuff lies on my hard drive for more then a year, so its unclear why it came to bite me now.

Oh well, I guess it could be a cosmic ray hitting my computer and stuff. For all I know this problem is unheard of. And it is quite easy to fix by editing font.conf file. After reconsidering I've decided to mark the problem as [SOLVED] without waiting for 24 hours to pass.

If anyone has any insight (and free time to spare) feel free to contact me via email, I'll edit the last post to include new information if possible and/or relevant.

Thanks for helping me out

seth · 2025-11-17 20:36:55

pacman -R noto-fonts

will tell you what's hard-depending on it.

Vlazm · 2025-11-17 20:51:42

Wow, apperently nothing

I was able to remove it with no hiccups. It was installed as a dependency of another package as the output of "pacman -Qi" suggested. I guess it was an optional dependency after all.

It is funnily fitting that the best way to find out what hard dependencies a package has is to try to remove it

Arch Linux

#1 2025-11-17 16:15:58

System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#2 2025-11-17 16:23:10

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#3 2025-11-17 16:45:22

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#4 2025-11-17 16:56:07

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#5 2025-11-17 17:38:07

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#6 2025-11-17 20:09:20

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#7 2025-11-17 20:35:04

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#8 2025-11-17 20:36:55

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

#9 2025-11-17 20:51:42

Re: System font have suddenly changed [SOLVED]

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